Boss Fight Books: Bible Adventures Book Review

[dropcap size=small]T[/dropcap]he inaugural season of Boss Fight Books was an excellent jaunt through a variety of video games. From the strange tale of Super Mario Bros. 2 to amazing game creation tool ZZT there was at least one book to suit a great deal of gaming fans. With such a strong start it was no doubt that Gabe Durham’s Kickstarter for Boss Fight Books Season 2 would also meet with great success. Now we’re finally seeing the fruits of this campaign – starting with Bible Adventures by Boss Fight Books’ head Mr. Durham himself. This also happens to be the first book in the series devoted to something that most folks consider to be a “bad game.”

Or, rather, a bad collection of games, as the NES cartridge of Bible Adventures includes three titles: Baby Moses, David and Goliath, and Noah’s Ark. This trilogy of biblically-inspired games by Wisdom Tree are known by so many only thanks to The Angry Video Game Nerd rather than having actually played them. At least, it’s definitely that way for me – though eventually I gave Noah’s Ark a spin. The author had actually played them as a child, and shares brief snippets of his youth to tie the narrative together. This autobiographical trend is one of the hallmarks of Boss Fight Books and is definitely a smart way to approach Bible Adventures in particular. The link doesn’t feel tenuous, which it easily could have.

While the book is called Bible Adventures there’s also more to the story than just discussing that game’s mechanics, marketing, and development. Durham digs in with the developer’s history – and it’s more interesting than it has any right to be. I had no clue developer Color Dreams were behind the Wisdom Tree label and that so many of these religious games were simply reskinned versions of their older titles. Of course, the biggest surprise is that anyone would create a Christian game company without necessarily actually caring about bringing Christian-approved games to home consoles. This shrewd business move aside, it’s interesting to see how some of the original developers feel today about their time working for Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree and their current thoughts on faith.

With that said, I’m of two minds about the Bible Adventures book sourcing its quotes so heavily from existing interviews. On one hand, everything is presented in a very readable, organized fashion. Had the book not come out I’d never have dug up these interviews otherwise. Then again, it feels a bit more like a thesis full of other people’s efforts that are then used to back up a new presentation. If you’ve already dug through every single Bible Adventures bit of information online then this book probably won’t be of much service to you, basically.

Of course, how many people are out there like that? Presumably Durham became one in the process of writing his book, but it’s likely a miniscule club of individuals. Most gamers out there are a curious bunch and would probably find Bible Adventures as intriguing a read as I did. At 168 pages I almost wish it went a little longer, but all told it’s a compelling look at a video game company which made it to the forefront of religious video games.

Be sure to check out our reviews of the other Boss Fight Books publications right here.

Marcus is a fellow with a love for video games, horror, and Japanese food. When he’s not writing about games for a multitude of sites, he’s usually still playing one. Writing about video games is something he hopes to continue doing for many years to come.

Popular Discussions

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, or IWGB, have recently announced a new branch for workers in the UK’s video games industry. Given the prevalence of issues in the workplace, this is surely a massive step forwards for workers in the UK. The IWGB’s main branch deals with “gig economies”, jobs such as Uber […]

When you strip away all the bullshit, Melee is an incredibly difficult game to approach at the competitive level. Videos like this are impressive until you realize that was from 2011 and similar exchanges are SSBM’s bread and butter at the current level of competition, giving most people who have a desire to take a […]

The indie gaming landscape becomes more crowded every year. Usually, these games are primarily sold through Steam. The platform becomes more bloated by the day. Itch.IO has made significant inroads in the last few years by offering developers a better deal than Steam, but the Epic Games Store is still a game changer. As the amount […]

BioWare games have been marked with a variety of romance options, ranging from getting together with Dorian in the Dragon Age series, to becoming involved with Silk Fox in Jade Empire. According to Tech Times, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn was the first BioWare game to let the player’s avatar form a couple with […]

If there’s one thing that the right-wing is known for, it’s their ability to take any difference of opinion or viewpoint with good humour. Unlike snowflakes who are consistently offended by literally everything and demand that things vanish or change, the right-wing has a mighty thick skin. Except they don’t, they are consistently and bafflingly […]